St. Maarten - Part III - Video Guide to Aviation Geek Paradise

The highlight of any day at Maho Beach located on the threshold of St. Maarten airport, is the arrival of the KLM 747 from Amsterdam. Photo by Kathryn B. Creedy

For aviation enthusiasts (AvGeeks) there is only one thing to do on St. Maarten (SXM) – head to Maho Beach, located on the threshold of the runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, and watch the planes come in mere feet overhead. Few places on earth offer aircraft in flight so close you can almost reach up and touch the dangling landing gear.

Ignoring warning signs, some crazies actually “ride the fence” (hanging on to the airport fence and being blown away in the engine wash of departing aircraft). Full disclosure – it gives a whole new meaning to the term sand blasted.

Numerous signs warn visitors of the jet blast from departing aircraft. Few take heed, however. That's me on the right with an aviation colleague being AvGeeks.

Most just take cover behind the low wall between the beach and the narrow road that passes by the runway threshold. Photo by Kathryn B. Creedy

No visit would be complete without a visit to the Sunset Beach Bar next to the airport for its wonderful food and great atmosphere.

The restaurant offers a bird's eye view of arrivals, including the youngest female Aerobat Melissa Pemberton who came in "low enough to miss the fence but high enough so the crowd at the beach couldn't touch me." Photo by Kathryn B. Creedy

Relaxing with a beer is much the better perspective for plane spotting.

Those staying at the nearby Sonesta Maho or Sonesta Ocean Point get a great view of aircraft landing.

Sunset bar conveniently posts aircraft arrival times on a surf board between the beach and the bar. Others make back-of-the-envelope lists from the airport website or techies check FlightAware on their phones. Photo Courtesy of Caroline Paskas

The Maho Beach experience is for AvGeeks and non geeks alike and provides a friendly atmosphere for guessing the type of aircraft on approach (often missed by even seasoned AvGeeks), trading aircraft knowledge and just having fun. It is guaranteed that if you are not an AvGeek going in, you will be after a few landings.

But Maho Beach is not the only AvGeek adventure in the region, which has three of the most extreme airports in the world, according to the History Channel.

At St Barth, pilots have to thread a needle between two peaks at a 10-degree nose down angle, miss a highway round about on the lip of the airport approach, and descend a hill to get to the runway. Be careful not to get rousted by the gendarme who scolded us for interfering with an incoming flight which did a go-around because the pilot was afraid he'd hit us.

The Winair Twin Offer has to miss cars circling a hill-top roundabout before navigating a steep hill on the runway threshold. Photo Courtesy of Alain Duzant

For AvGeeks, the flight was better than any roller coaster but for the pilots, it was just another day at the office.

At Saba, pilots navigating the 15-minute trip from St. Maarten have to fly directly at a mountain before making a last-minute, left hand turn to land on the smallest commercial runway in the world. The challenge is missing the 60-foot drops down to the ocean at each end. It’s like landing on landing on an aircraft carrier without the pitch and roll, pilots say. Suffice it to say you need special training for both airports.